Mostly about my amusement

Tag: Gundam (page 5 of 6)

HG Shiranui Akatsuki Gundam

HG Shiranui Akatsuki

Last week in Flushing I picked up a couple of MG Gundams with the kids. Both kids know I will build models for them so the boy picked the HG Justice Gundam and the girl picked the HG Shiranui Akatsuki Gundam. I built his model first last time, so this time she gets her model before he does.

I should have learned from the last time I did a Gundam with shiny gloss finishing. I usually cut the parts from the spruce tree, trim the parts with a jewelers file and maybe sand the nub off.

Not with shiny gold colored pieces. The file and sand paper leave scars. I have to cut off each piece with room to spare, trim the excess carefully with the side clippers, and then use an exacto knife to shave off what little is left. Without taking too much off or scratching the finish. I’m almost half way through and it is really tedious.

HG Shiranui Akatsuki instructions

I’ll post finished pictures once it is done. The model is shiny and it has seams everywhere. A “serious” Gunpla modeler would soak the model in a bleach and water mixture to remove the paint. Then you glue the seams together, mask it and re-paint.

Lucky for me I’m not that serious.

MG Nemo and HG Insurgent Ginn

Here are the two Gunpla models I recently finished. The pictures are not that good; I’ll blame the camera instead of my shaky hands.

The first one was a HG Ginn Type Insurgent from Stargazer.

HG Ginn Type Insurgent

It’s my daughter’s model. I made a HG Saviour Gundam for my son, so I also made this one for her. They are both very careful and do not play with the models.

She’s 4 and he’s 6 so that is amazing. They get the difference between toy and not toy. They treat all my models with care and respect so I can leave all 50+ Gunpla models in the basement without worrying that they’ll damage any of them.

Toys they can and do destroy.

The next model I completed was the MG Nemo. I started it months ago and would work on it on and off.

Master Grade Nemo

The Nemo’s joints make it easy to pose. Lately all the recent MG’s I have been building have really stiff joints. Stiff enough that I could probably stand the Nemo on one foot with it’s arms out without it falling down.

The shoulders are just like the MG Gundam MK-II RX-178 v2.0, only the model is just not that flashy. That makes sense since the MK-II was the star of the show until the Zeta arrived.

The mass produced Nemo’s are the Zeta Gundam equivalent of the Star Trek guy in the red shirt. Of course in Japanese anime, main characters get killed all the time so that might not be a really good comparison.

The original Zeta Gundam was depressing, filled with death (war is bad and 50 episodes later, yep still bad) and left things hanging for Double Zeta. Double Zeta was the power rangers version and I’m glad Char was left out of it. Char’s Counter Attack was the next time we see him which is where he and Amuro get killed off.

The Zeta movies were better. They rewrote some of the story line and made the ending more upbeat. I might let the kids see the three movies sometime but no way am I showing them the Zeta TV series.

Gundam 00 Episode 11

Turns out Allelujah Haptism is not a Newtype (if that even turns up in the series).

Allelujah in front of the HRL Super Soldier facility

This episode revolves around Allelujah dealing with his past. The HRL had taken children and modified them for war. Part of the outcome is that their reflexes are maxed out. The other part seems that some of the children become nuts and develop pseudo telepathic abilities with each other.

It’s a good episode and I hope they are not done with Allelujah just yet.

Gundam 00 GN-004 Gundam Nadleeh

So that’s where the missing GN-004 was. Episode 10 revealed it.

Gundam 00 GN-004 Gundam Nadleeh

The episode was weird; looks like the only Gundam Meisters that aren’t really nuts are Setsuna and Lockon. Tieria was revealed to be a “you are not worthy” creep in episode 7 and Allelujah Haptism switches personalities to a homicidal maniac.

Aside from Allelujah possibly having some New Type ability (and what was with Tieria’s eyes when Virtue revealed Nadleeh?) he also turns into a real nut job.

The show is still developing well and I like it more than Gundam Seed. It was revealed in episode 9 that the Celestial Being organization was around for a while. One of the characters told Lockon that both her parents were Gundam Meisters. With such a hidden history and established force (Setsuna was saved by a Gundam in 2301, the story takes place in 2307) I wonder if it will be revealed that there are other Gundam teams working in the shadows?

A good write up of the episode can be found at Random Curiosity.

Gundam 00 and Dragonaut

Since Darker Than Black and Claymore wrapped up, I’ve been following the new Gundam 00 series as well as Dragonaut the Resonance.

Gundam 00

Gundam 00 is not bad so far. The series is like a combination of Wing Gundam but with elements of the Universal Century Gundam series. This show seems to have Minovsky particles (for at least the Gundams) and Newtypes, but no space colonies. The main character has a disturbing past and serious angst.

I have not seen a Char type yet but I am pretty sure the Ramba Ral character has shown up.

I like how the show draws on current events and it looks like the show is developing nicely. The writers have started with a lot of good threads and the framework is solid. If the show does not suddenly run out of gas then the secret of the Solar Furnace as well as the technology and origin of the Celestial Being group should make for good viewing.

Dragonaut the Resonance (Gio escaping)

The other show I’m following is Dragonaut the Resonance. Dragons exist but they came from outer space. The story revolves around the only survivor of a shuttle accident that was caused by a dragon.

Naturally that dragon Toa is in love with the survivor Jin Kamishina. All the other dragons so far were born on Earth and are bound to their masters. Toa came to Earth on a mission from her mother who is either the rogue planet Thanatos or lives there in the orbit of Pluto (which was destroyed by an impact with Thanatos).

The story is a little over complicated. There are two factions on earth but both sides want to use the dragons to defend against the threat from outer space. The love story is goofy, and the er, proportions of some of the characters is pretty funny. The “bad lady” Major Garnet MacLaine defies gravity but so do a couple of other characters. It’s over the top (ha, I kill me) but the animation is okay so far.

$10 HG Gundam models

Last week we were in Flushing and found HG Saviour Gundam and HG Insurgent Ginn for $10 each. We ended up buying two of each.

I assembled the first one and even put on the stickers for my son. Here is the picture of it put together.

HG Saviour Gundam

My son likes it a lot and is being very careful carrying it around from table to table. I’m sure it will be broken soon (he’s a 5 year old) but for now he’s glad that he has “his model”.

As HG models go this one was pretty good. It’s begging to be painted.

MG F91 and wasted paint

Here is the fully assembled MG F91.

MG_F91_assembled

The model breaks up into pieces very nicely and should be straight forward to paint.

I definitely want to paint it but lately I am having problems with that. I had the HG Bawoo all primed up for a long time. I dusted it off and started with a light coat of Tamiya bright orange spray paint. The paint went on and pooled.

Lucky I have another Bawoo. The primer always goes on smoothly but I either am not shaking the can enough or it gets too humid and I get bubbles. I need to try using an airbrush and see if mixing the paint my self makes a difference.

Progress on the F91

Here is the latest picture of the MG Gundam F91:

Bawoo_MKII_F91

The F91 is on the right. I put it next to a 1/100 MG RX-178 Mk-II Gundam v2.0 and a 1/144 HG Bawoo for size purposes. The F91 is a little taller than the Bawoo.

The lack of polycaps makes it difficult to pose the model including the ankles and feet. It makes it a little difficult to place the feet flat on the table. Including a display stand for posing makes sense since once I add the back mounted weapons, this model will be a good candidate for an easy shelf dive.

Here is another shot of the F91 next to the Bawoo.

F91_Bawoo